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CNN International: Four Killed, Dozens Hurt at Alabama Sweet 16 Birthday Party; Fox News -- Dominion Trial Delayed on Eve of Opening; Jack Teixeira in Custody, Charged Under Espionage Act; Air National Guardsman Accused of Applying For Hitman Job; Third Day of Fighting Sees Intense Battles Around Khartoum; Conflict in Sudan: Regional Powers Offer to Mediate Amid Calls for Ceasefire; U.S. Immigration Crisis: Tens of Thousands of Migrants Waiting at Border; Yellen: U.S. Can Aim for Strong Job Market & Lower Inflation; Outbreak Of Blastomycosis Linked to Paper Mill. Aired 4-4:30a ET

Aired April 17, 2023 - 04:00   ET

THIS IS A RUSH TRANSCRIPT. THIS COPY MAY NOT BE IN ITS FINAL FORM AND MAY BE UPDATED.

[04:00:00]

EDWARD BERGER, DIRECTOR AND CO-WRITER, ALL QUIET ON THE WESTERN FRONT: --on the other side thinking he's lost it. He can never go back. It said a lot about this characters and so I'm very proud of the simplicity of that scene.

BIANCA NOBILO, CNN ANCHOR: Hello, and a warm welcome to our viewers joining us in the United States and all around the world. I'm Bianca Nobilo.

MAX FOSTER, CNN ANCHOR: And I'm Max Foster joining you live from London, just ahead on CNN NEWSROOM.

SGT. JEREMY BURKETT, ALABAMA DEPARTMENT OF PUBLIC SAFETY: Four lives were lost in a tragic event that occurred here in Dayton.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: What we've dealt with is something that no community should have to endure.

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: We are seeing a historic refugee crisis across the Western Hemisphere.

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: Nearly 90,000 migrants have made the trek so far, all of them on their way to the U.S. Southern border.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: A power struggle between the two most powerful generals of Sudan.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: There is a shared deep concern about fighting, the violence that's going on in Sudan.

ANNOUNCER: Live from London, This is CNN NEWSROOM with Max Foster and Bianca Nobilo.

FOSTER: It is Monday April the 17th, 9:00 a.m. here in London, 3:00 a.m. in Dadeville, Alabama, where another community is now mourning the loss of children at the hands of gun violence.

NOBILO: Investigators in Dadeville are working to find who is responsible for a deadly shooting that killed at least four people and injured 28 others at a sweet 16 birthday party. Some of the victims have critical injuries.

Police have been speaking with witnesses to find out who was at the party and they're asking the public for help.

BURKETT: We've got to have information from the community. So if you are at home right now, or you know somebody that has any information about what occurred last night, I cannot stress this enough, ever how minor are you think it is. We absolutely need you to share it.

So again, please reach out to the Alabama law enforcement agencies--

FOSTER: So far two victims are identified, both of them teenagers KeKe Smith, a senior in high school and a student athletic manager on the track team. Her family says she was always smiling.

NOBILO: And Philstavious Dowdell, a high school football player and the brother of the birthday girl. Community members describe him as a hometown hero.

Residents and community leaders held a prayer vigil on Sunday. The governor sent condolences to the community saying quote, "Violent crime has no place in our state." Here's how one resident describes the victims.

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: These children had very bright futures, the ones that I knew from Dadeville. Very, very athletic, very humble children, very respectful children, smart. I don't know anybody that could speak negative on any of them. They just wanted to have fun.

NOBILO: Isabel Rosales is has more now on how this senseless tragedy has devastated a small Alabama town.

ISABEL ROSALES, CNN CORRESPONDENT: I spoke with Michael Taylor, who's the assistant football coach over at Dadeville high school and he says that this is personal, because one of the known four victims so far of the shooting is Phil Dowdell. And he -- Taylor says, Dowdell has been like a son to him. He's known him since he was nine years old. He is an utter disbelief at the news.

He calls Dowdell, a freak athlete, somebody who was so blessed by God across the spectrum -- basketball, track, football. And that he was about to turn the page on a new and exciting chapter in his life. He was about to graduate next month and actually got a scholarship to play football at Jacksonville State University here in Jacksonville, Alabama.

Taylor spoke with Dowdell's grandmother this morning. Here's what she said.

MICHAEL TAYLOR, DADEVILLE HIGH SCHOOL FOOTBALL COACH: The biggest irony is she don't understand why -- why did it happen? You know. We don't have any enemies. Phil just told me about a month ago, he said, Coach anything would happen to me, even when I go to college, take care my two sisters. I never dreamed that he was talking about this.

ROSALES: And as you can understand this is a terribly traumatizing situation for this tightknit community of 3000 people. The superintendent says that tomorrow they will have counselors at the county schools to help the students grieve through what has happened. Isabel Rosales, CNN, Dadeville, Alabama.

NOBILO: President Joe Biden weighing in on the latest mass shooting.

FOSTER: In a statement, he asked, "What has our nation come to when children can't attend a birthday party without fear? When parents have to worry every time their kids walk out the door to school, to the movie theater or to the park." He went on to say, "Guns are the leading killer of children in America and the numbers are rising, not declining. This is outrageous and unacceptable. Americans agree and want lawmakers to act on common sense gun safety reforms."

NOBILO: A Kansas City teen who was shot after going to the wrong home, while trying to pick up his siblings has been identified. One of the attorneys for the families -- for the victim's family says that his name is Ralph Yarl and he was hospitalized Thursday night after being shot by the homeowner in a possible case of mistaken identity.

FOSTER: The homeowner has been released from police custody pending an investigation. The city's mayor is assuring the public that they are committed to bringing justice to the case.

[04:05:00]

QUINTON LUCAS, KANSAS CITY MAYOR: Our heart goes out to the juvenile victim and more than anything to make sure that this child and this child's family knows that there are people working hard a number of people working hard to make sure there is justice for this person. And that would exist whether the victim is Black, White, Latino, whatever background. This department is doing the best it can to make sure that justice can be found for the juvenile and for everyone involved in this situation.

CROWD: Justice for Ralph.

FOSTER: Meanwhile, hundreds of protesters gathered outside the team's home in Kansas City on Sunday to demand justice.

NOBILO: In a stunning development, Dominion Voting Systems' high stakes defamation trial against Fox News is being delayed. A U.S. Court announced hours ago that the case which was supposed to start Monday morning has now been delayed until Tuesday.

FOSTER: The change comes as the Wall Street Journal is reporting that Fox has made a late push to settle the dispute our court. Legal experts have expressed surprise that Fox hasn't yet settled the case, avoiding what's expected to be in excruciating and embarrassing several weeks for the news network. The Super PAC urging Florida Governor Ron DeSantis to run for president in 2024 turned to Fox News on Sunday to run his first national television ad. The focus of the spot was Donald Trump.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Donald Trump has been attacked by a Democrat prosecutor in New York, so why is he spending millions attacking the Republican governor of Florida? Trump's stealing pages from the Biden- Pelosi playbook, repeating lies about Social Security. Trump should fight Democrats not lie about Governor DeSantis. What happened to Donald Trump?

NOBILO: The group is slated to launch a U.S. wide television ad on Monday that will highlight DeSantis' record as governor. But despite the big dollars being spent on these ads, Ron DeSantis has still not announced any plans to run for president.

FOSTER: Pretty odd that, isn't it, to launch your campaign without actually launching your campaign?

NOBILO: Yes, it is. I wonder when we can expect the official announcement because all of his actions obviously--

FOSTER: Yes.

NOBILO: --strongly hint towards that. U.S. lawmakers have questions for the Biden Administration about the leak of highly classified U.S. intelligence information.

The a 21 year old National Guard Airman accused of leaking the documents. Jack Teixeira is charged on the under the Espionage Act and remains in custody.

FOSTER: On Sunday, lawmakers expressed grave concern about the circumstances around the leak. Here's a reaction from both sides of the aisle.

SEN. KIRSTEN GILLIBRAND (D-NY): I have a lot of questions about why were these documents lying around? Why did this particular person have access to them? Where was the custody of the documents? And who are they for? Those are important questions we can ask in the Intelligence Committee, so that we can have stronger oversight.

REP. MIKE TURNER (R-OH): The access that he was having to this information should have been cut off. He should have never been having access to this level of classified information that could hurt the United States. But he had no reason -- there was no need to know for him of the information that he was accessing, And the Department of Defense offense admits in the affidavit that they had the ability to track him.

FOSTER: Well, the next court appearance for the suspect Jack Teixeira takes place on Wednesday.

NOBILO: A Tennessee Air National Guardsman is facing federal charges after he allegedly applied to be a hitman on the spoof website rentahitman.com. The U.S. Justice Department says, 21 year old Josiah Ernesto Garcia was charged on Thursday after submitting employment inquiries to the parody site, which includes testimonials from supposedly satisfied customers.

He was arrested after meeting with an undercover FBI agent to arrange a hit and a fee. Garcia faces up to 10 years in prison if convicted. He is set to appear in court on Tuesday. CNN has reached out to the Air National Guard for comment.

FOSTER: Time is precious as the U.S. Coast Guard and the Mexican Navy searched for three American sailors. It's been nearly two weeks since anyone's heard from them. CNN's Camila Bernal has the story.

CAMILA BERNAL, CNN CORRESPONDENT: These three Americans were last heard from on April 6. They were near Mazatlan, Mexico and they were headed to San Diego, California. They were supposed to stop on April 6 in Cabo San Lucas, but they never made it there. Now it is the Mexican Navy who is leading the search here with the help of the U.S. Coast Guard.

The three Americans that are currently missing are Kerry and Frank O'Brien. They're a married couple and William Gross. I spoke to Kerry's mother and she says that Kerry and her husband have about 20 years of experience and said that Bill has about 50 years of experience when it comes to sailing.

[04:10:00]

She says, you know, a mother always worries but she wasn't particularly concerned about this trip. She speaks to her daughter every single day. But on day two, when she didn't care for from her, she began to feel scared to feel concerned. She says she is now heartbroken, but is not losing hope. Here's part of the conversation I had with that mother.

ELLEN ARGALL, MOTHER OF MISSING AMERICAN KERRY O'BRIEN: We're so close. We either talk on the phone or we text each other. So when I didn't hear from her when she was supposed to Cabo, I started getting very worried. I'm very worried, sad, concerned. But I'm still hopeful. I'm hanging on to the hope. We've all been praying. Seems so odd that in all these days not one person has seen them or heard from them.

BERNAL: And the U.S. Coast Guard saying that the weather was not optimal when they began sailing. They say, it is a long trip, even when the weather is good. They say it takes about two days to get from Mazatlan to Cabo San Lucas, and they've now been missing for more than 10 days.

The search continues. This mother says that she gets an update from the Coast Guard every single day. She is waiting to hear back from her daughter. She wants this search to expand. She says the Coast Guard has told her that they're using technology to try to figure out where this boat could be. They're looking at the patterns in the wind and in the currents to figure out if there is any spot where they can search and where they can eventually and hopefully find them.

Again this mother says she has hope and she is waiting for the next time that she speaks to her daughter. Camila Bernal, CNN, Los Angeles.

FOSTER: Residents of Sudan's capital woke up Monday to the sounds of artillery fire and aerial bombardment. This fighting rages for a third straight day between the country's army and the Rapid Support Forces paramilitary group.

Witnesses tell CNN the battles continued throughout Khartoum. Overnight, it became especially intense after morning prayers.

NOBILO: There were reports of airstrikes near Khartoum's airport as well as around garrisons belonging to both the RSF and the Sudanese military. A doctor's union says the civilian death toll has risen to at least 97.

FOSTER: Larry Madowo monitoring things from Nairobi, Kenya. We're not getting very clear information. This is a media war going on as well, isn't there?

LARRY MADOWO, CNN CORRESPONDENT: We don't know. We don't know who has the upper hand. We don't know who has control of what. Because both the Rapid Support Forces, this really powerful paramilitary group and their rivals, the Sudanese military, claimed to be in control of the airport, of the Presidential Palace, of other strategic sides, of bases across the country. So we will get a statement from one and then a short while later get a statement from the other one.

What we do know for sure is that we've entered day three of this violence in Sudan where almost 100 people have already died, more than 1,100 have been wounded. And the longer this goes on, the more people will be hurt.

There are people who are hiding in Khartoum who tell CNN that they are staying far away from windows. When in places where they have bunkers they are in there afraid of getting stray fire, and some of them fear that they might soon run out of food, they might soon run out of fuel, they might soon run out of, especially medicines, if this drags out for longer.

The international community is asking the two warring generals in Sudan, General Burhan release the army and his Deputy General Hemedti -- Mohamed Dagalo to go back to the negotiating table and recommit to that timeline to return to civilian rule in Sudan.

As a background Sudan has seen two military coups in the last few years. In both cases, these two bodies were united in throwing over civilian rule, first to outgrow Omar al-Bashir, who left Sudan for more than 30 years. And then in October 2021, again to overthrow the civilian government.

A short while ago we heard from the U.S. Secretary of State Antony Blinken.

ANTONY BLINKEN, UNITED STATES SECRETARY OF STATE: People in Sudan, want the military back in the barracks. They want democracy. They want a civilian led government. Sudan needs to return to that path. African Union leaders are heading to Sudan this morning. The chair of the African Union will be there as is a delegation from the Intergovernmental Authority on Development, that's the regional body. It's sending the presidents of Kenya of South Sudan and of Djibouti to try and get these two men back to the negotiating table.

I spoke to general Hemedti, yesterday, the leader of the RSF and he said he's a man of peace. He's committed to civilian rule. But he says his rival general Burhan is a liar. He does not commit to any of the agreements and that is why he had to defend himself. He didn't start this.

FOSTER: OK. Larry, we'll stay across it. Thank you so much for bringing us the latest from Nairobi.

NOBILO: The U.S. Border Patrol says it encountered more than 2 million migrants at the Southern border last year and soon many more could be coming. The reasons why and how the U.S. is preparing, still ahead on CNN NEWSROOM.

FOSTER: Plus, the U.S. Treasury Secretary speaks exclusively with CNN about the state of the economy and whether it's really possible to lower inflation in the current climate.

NOBILO: Security is suddenly an issue for the G7 in the aftermath of Saturday's attack on the Japanese Prime Minister. We'll have a live report for you from Tokyo.

[04:15:00]

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

REP. VERONICA ESCOBAR (D-TX) (voice over): We are seeing a historic refugee crisis across the Western Hemisphere. What we are all anticipating is an unprecedented number. The number of migrants waiting in our Mexican sister cities. I think that's actually very, very low. I think the numbers are probably 10 times that size based on what I am hearing. And there are more groups that are of people who are coming in waves.

FOSTER: Picture say it all. The U.S. Border Patrol says it accounted more than 2 million migrants at the Southern border last year.

NOBILO: And 10s and 1000s are still waiting in Northern Mexico for the opportunity to enter the U.S., hoping that it'll be easier once the Trump era policy known as Title 42 ends next month.

CNN's Rosa Flores explains what could happen when it does.

[04:20:00]

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

ROSA FLORES, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Where are we?

JAVIER CALVILLO: [Foreign Language]. FLORES (voice over): Father Javier Calvillo, runs the Casa del Migrante shelter in Ciudad Juarez, Mexico across the border from El Paso, Texas, and says this is one of about 40 shelters in the city. And that most of the migrants here are from Venezuela.

FLORES (on camera): The top nationality is Venezuela.

CALVILLO: Yes.

FLORES (voice over): And the majority, if not all, are part of the skyrocketing number of migrants trekking through the dangerous jungle passage between Colombia and Panama known as the Darien Gap.

Migrant crossings there have jumped from under 600 in 2010 to nearly a quarter million last year. This year, nearly 90,000 migrants have made the trek so far, all of them on their way to the U.S. Southern border.

The Biden Administration took notice and alongside Colombia and Panama, it launched a two month campaign to curb the flow of migration.

ALEJANDRO MAYORKAS, SECRETARY OF HOMELAND SECURITY: We must do more to discourage the dangerous journey.

FLORES (voice over): At the U.S. Southern border, the humanitarian crisis that left hundreds of migrants sleeping on the streets of El Paso in December and January has effectively jumped the border to Mexico, immigration advocates say.

Emotions there boiled over last month when a large group of migrants rushed the International Bridge to El Paso over frustrations with a cumbersome U.S. asylum process forcing them to wait in Mexico.

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: Please we want answers.

FLORES (voice over): That dissatisfaction stemmed from the Trump era pandemic public health rule known as Title 42, which allows immigration agents to swiftly expel migrants back to Mexico. The Biden Administration's expansion of that rule to Venezuelans Nicaraguans, Haitians and Cubans and the recent launch of an app that allows migrants to set up appointments to enter the U.S. legally, pending immigration proceedings under an exception to Title 42.

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: The App doesn't work.

FLORES (voice over): Because more than 23,000 migrants are in Northern Mexican cities waiting as Title 42 is set to expire next month, according to officials and community leaders. In Tijuana about 10,000 are waiting. In Reynosa, Matamoros, about 9,800. And in Ciudad Juarez up to 3,500. The top 21 countries where they're coming from include places outside the Western Hemisphere.

As for who is responsible for the migrant crisis, which appears to ping pong across borders, Father Calvillo says--

CALVILLO: [Foreign Language]. FLORES (on camera): The game of politics.

FLORES (voice over): Both the U.S. and Mexico for what he calls the game of politics and policies.

FLORES: The Department of Homeland Security has said that the Biden Administration has launched a comprehensive immigration strategy that is fair and efficient. And that allows for legal pathways to enter into the United States like the CBP One app. U.S. Customs and Border Protection says that the app is working as intended, and that 10s of 1000s of migrants have used it to set up appointments to enter into the United States. And CBP says that their data shows that the number of migrant encounters at the U.S. Southern border has dropped since that app was launched back in January.

Now from reporting from both sides of the border. I can tell you that what the net effect of these current policies look like, is a valve. A valve that allows the U.S. government to manage the flow of migration into the United States and has 1,000s of migrants waiting in Mexico. Rosa Flores, CNN, El Paso, Texas.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

FOSTER: A look at the live U.S. stock futures for you and they are looking pretty positive for the start of the week, up about 0.1 percent across the board. Last month's upheaval in the U.S. banking industry took many people by surprise and raised concerns about its impact on the economy.

NOBILO: But Treasury Secretary Janet Yellen says she doesn't think it's pushed the U.S. off course financially.

In an exclusive interview with CNN's Fareed Zakaria, Yellen talked about whether the government can bring down inflation while maintaining a strong job market.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

JANET YELLEN, SECRETARY OF THE TREASURY: What people call the soft landing is possible. So I do think there's a path to bring down inflation while maintaining what I think all of us would regard as strong labor market. And the evidence that I'm seeing suggests we are on that path.

Now are there risks? Of course. I don't want to downplay the possibility that there are risks here, but I do think that's possible.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

NOBILO: In Indiana and evacuation order has been lifted following a fire at a plastics recycling plant in Richmond. The country's emergency management says that the -- county's emergency management says that officials determined on Sunday that it's safe for residents to return to their homes.

[04:25:00] FOSTER: But they are warning, even though 99 percent of the fire has been extinguished, odors may linger for several more days. About 2,000 residents were put under mandatory evacuation orders after the fire broke out last Tuesday.

Nearly 100 cases of a rare fungal infection have now been recorded in Michigan. And they're all linked to a paper mill. One person has died as a result of infection. The fungus grows in moist soil and in decomposing matter like wood or leaves. It's thought the fungus is growing in the paper mill in Delta County, Michigan. Everyone who's been sickened either work there or has visited at the part that currently closed for cleaning.

Still to come, it's the U.S. President versus the Speaker of the House, in a standoff that could determine whether the U.S. defaults on trillions of dollars in debt, we have the latest from Washington.

NOBILO: Plus, CNN hears from Ukrainians who fled the war, the only way they could, that was into Russia. Here why some fear they may never be able to return to their homeland.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

NOBILO: Welcome back to CNN NEWSROOM. I'm Bianca Nobilo.

FOSTER: I'm Max Foster. If you're just joining us, let me bring you up to date with our top stories this hour.

At least four people are dead and 28 injured in a mass shooting at a sweet 16 birthday party in Dadeville, Alabama. Officials are asking the public for help in finding out who opened fire inside the venue.

And the defamation trial between Fox News and Dominion Voting Systems is now delayed.